By Matt Willis
Director, Willard Library
Who really controls your inner world? Seems like a silly question. Doesn’t everyone get to be in charge of their own mental landscape? My mind, my choice?
Many writers and podcast hosts have been calling out the “attention economy” lately. Jonathan Haidt, in his book The Anxious Generation (2024), argues that there is an epidemic of mental illness among young people that is partly due to a lack of real-world, exploratory play as children now spend so much time online. In Stolen Focus (2022), Johann Hari reveals how our willpower is in constant competition with algorithms that were expertly designed to steal our focus. Writer and podcaster Ezra Klein explores how the attention economy increasingly shapes political outcomes in our now-ubiquitous digital world.
There is a battle over our attention. But there is also a sure-fire strategy to take charge. It’s simple, really: Read more for pleasure.
When you pick up a book and begin to read, you are making a choice as to where your attention goes and what you do with your mind. You can choose to relax, to be entertained, to explore, to learn, to challenge yourself. You can even choose just to escape.
In our fast-paced world, reading can also slow you down. Keeping your attention on what you are reading naturally improves concentration and focus, and that can feel good.
There is even a field of study called bibliotherapy that explores reading’s relationship to stress and well-being. A study published in Psychological Medicine (2024) shows that reading for pleasure in childhood correlates with a stronger sense of well-being.
And reading is not selfish. A 2025 review published in Perspectives in Public Health found that reading for pleasure can foster empathy, self-understanding, and a sense of connectedness, virtues that seem especially vital in today’s polarized world. Reading is a way to bring us together.
Because reading is good for us, our neighbors, our community, and because it is crucial to reclaiming agency, Willard Library has launched the “Reading Is Everything” campaign. It is designed to promote and celebrate all that reading means for us.
And because reading is for everyone, we have also launched an Adult Literacy program. Anyone who wants to improve their reading can call the library for free, one-on-one tutoring assistance.
Reading is everything; it is knowledge, adventure, understanding, and so much more. And the key to reading’s fundamental power is that it puts control back where it belongs: with you.
